JPMorgan Chase announced Tuesday it will raise wages for 18,000 low-ranking US employees and said the private sector should do more to address income inequality. The biggest US bank by assets will lift over the next three years its minimum salary for American bank tellers and customer service representatives from $10.15 an hour to between $12 and $16.50, chief executive Jamie Dimon said in an opinion article in The New York Times.
"A pay increase is the right thing to do. Wages for many Americans have gone nowhere for too long," Dimon said.
"Above all, it enables more people to begin to share in the rewards of economic growth." The move follows US salary increases announced over the last year and a half by several large companies, including Wal-Mart Stores, McDonald's and, just Monday, Starbucks.
The issues of wage stagnation and the widening income gap with the rich, along with the view that big banks like JPMorgan largely escaped punishment for their role in causing the 2008 financial crisis, have been seen as factors in the rise of populist appeals by US presidential candidates.